What's in store for the Big 4 in 2012...

Most people in the tennis universe, whether it be the players, coaches, analysts or fans, believe that the current era of Fedal, Djokovic, and Murray is the best one ever seen by tennis, or at least on a par with the golden age of your Lavers and Rosewalls, back in the late 60's and 70's.

Between 2006 and 2010, Federer and Nadal dominated the tour to the extent that out of the 20 grand slams played in that period, only Djokovic and Del Potro broke their stranglehold and pushed through to win their first majors, with Federer winning a massive 10 and Nadal taking 8.
Rewind to 2011 and the emergence of Novak Djokovic, using Serbia's Davis Cup win at the end of 2010 as his platform to push on, he went on to win 3 majors last year, and earn a 6-0 record against Nadal and 4-1 against Federer, becoming the first number once outside of Fedal since 2004.

Currently Djokovic sits atop of the mountain with a comfortable lead of over 4000 points from Nadal at number two. He is undoubtedly now the favourite to retain his Australian Open crown, and his start to the season in Abu-Dhabi showed no signs in a dip in form after the long off season. The big question Djokovic must answer though is , Can he follow up a career best year with another, or will he wilt under the pressure of expectation?
You see for Novak, he's always been the one chasing the top two of Federer and Nadal a role that eventually paid off for him as he mature and his game developed, now he is the one with the target on his back, and it will be interesting to see if he can cope with the pressure of the no.1 ranking and consolidate his place as the world's best player with another multiple slam year.

For Nadal, his biggest question is the Djokovic question. His 3-1 record over Federer in 2011, and 4-1 record over Murray shows he still has the measure of his other big rivals, just not the biggest one Djokovic! He lost all 6 times to him in 2011. Where Nadal can relentelessly punish the backhand of both Fed and Murray, Djokovic possesses the best two hander in the game leaving Nadal vulnerable to stinging returns and powerful crosscourt passes if he goes there.
Mentally, he needs to hope the off season refreshed him and if he is to turn around his recent h2h with Djokovic in 2012, he'll need to forget last years losses and start afresh, hoping that Novak can't match last years level this time around.

The question once again this year for Federer is age. Whilst undoubtedly still capable of slam winning performances (French Open SF vs Djokovic), he just isn't able to produce them time and time again like he was in his peak years between 05-07. The matchup with Nadal still poses serious issues, despite his indoor win at the WTF and the fact that to win a slam he will likely have to go through at least 2 of Djokovic/Nadal/Murray doesn't stack the odds in his favour despite the brilliance of the man.
Despite all this, Federer was the only man to pose a serious threat to Djokovic's 2011 , and he will take the belief of his 17 match win streak at the end of the year into 2012, and i expect him to win at least one major in another consistent season for the Fed Express.

Finally, for Andy Murray, 2011 was a case of so near but yet so far as he lost in the SF's of three majors to his nemesis Nadal, whilst losing the final in Melbourne to Djokovic this time last year. In terms of game, Murray has it all, mean serve, strong groundstrokes, deft touch, but so far in his career his mentality has held him back from winning that first grand slam. Pure and simple for Andy, he needs to break through that barrier and REALLY believe he can beat the top three at the business end of majors. The introduction of Lendl into his camp is a good start, and the former 7 time slam champ should provide some valuable advice on how to take that next step, but Murray has to be the one to do it.

Look for Federer to take his momentum from last fall into Australia and take the years first slam, in a gruelling 4 setter vs Djokovic.

Thanks for reading :)

DJT



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